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Bacon Marmalade pt. 1- First try

This was my first attempted at Bacon Marmalade. Yes, you read it correctly, Bacon Marmalade! This recipe isn’t a jam, its more like a sauce with bacon in it. Let me explain how we discovered this fantastic meal.

My husband and I just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in Glen Ellen, California. Glen Ellen is located in Sonoma Valley, also called Valley of the Moon, which is known for their vineyards, wines and Jack London. We stayed only one evening at a beautiful bed and breackfast, the Gaige House (http://www.gaige.com/) . That is a whole blog post in itself, but trust me, the creek side Zen room can only be complemented by a nice fine champagne and chocolate while you sit on your private wood deck overlooking the creek. Anyway, back to the food!

We were told by the inn’s host, that the Glen Ellen Star (http://glenellenstar.com/) restaurant was owned by a chef that was from the French Laundry. My husband owes me a date at the French Laundry (which we will never be able to afford), so we had to give this a try. Our meals were fantastic; we went out of our safety zones and ordered something that we wouldn’t normally order. As the cook had explained to me, this would be the best place to leave our safety zones because it will be the best that you ever had. So, I ordered octopus and he ordered a bass. My husband fell in love with the bass, my octopus tasted great but I couldn’t get over the fact it was an octopus. I love octopus and I’m a former squid, so it just didn’t seem right. The cook was correct, if I was ever going to try it, the Glen Ellen Star would be the place. What we were mostly impressed about was the brussel sprouts with a Bacon Marmalade.

My husband is now willing to drive the hour and half back to Glen Ellen every week to eat the brussel sprouts, to save us on gasoline, I’m going to try to make it myself. I looked for advice at the all knowing Google machine and it spit out a few recipes. People mostly talked about making a jam. We didn’t eat a jam marmalade at the Star, we had perfectly blacken sprouts with a chunky, crispy bacon with magic sauce everywhere. Seriously, magical sauce. I did find this recipe on the link below, and I gave it a shot. I know it won’t be the same, just by the amount of onions it has. I will follow the directions the first time and then work my way through until I can match the Star’s. I really doubt my husband will mind.

Sauté some onions, fry some bacon and add sweet BBQ sauce instead- It will save you alot of time.

Takes a lot of time to simmer down 4 lbs of onions- Once you became impatient ant put the burner on high, watch out, it will still burn the bottom.

Taste fantastic on burgers!- It’s like In & Out’s animal style, just with bacon!

Taste ok with brussel sprouts- I need more stiffness to the bacon.

Too many onions- Well duh..it is a Onion Bacon Marmalade, the word “Onion” does come first so I should assume it the main ingredient.

Taking FOREVER to simmer down the liquid

Was this recipe bad? Not at all! It had great flavor in-between the massive amount of onions and such a small amount of the bacon. The recipe also made a generous amount, not too much and not too little. The 4 lbs of onions is what gave it the abundance, I had just enough left over after the brussel sprouts to add to my cheese burger the next night. Give this Onion Bacon recipe a try, you will not regret it, but I want more!

Here is my suggestions to myself for the next time around-

Add some heat- Just enough to counter act the sweetness

More Bacon less Onion- I’ll make this receipe my own, with less onions.

Garlic- Maybe, still thinking on that one

Possible crock pot- Once again, I haven’t thought that one through. May take the lid off so the liquid could evaporate. Or take out the liquid and boil it down.

See? Not too many changes. The changes I plan to make will alter the receipe significantly, which is fine…I just want more Bacon Marmalade!